


Lamniformes

by Suruntuoja



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Animal Transformation, Gen, Inspired by Fanfiction, Rated for teen and up because of mild swearing - just in case, San Jose Sharks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 16:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17604821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suruntuoja/pseuds/Suruntuoja
Summary: Joonas closed his eyes. Give in to it? How? It was driving him crazy! There was nothing but the warm water around him and the constant buzzing against his skull. He felt like he couldn’t even breathe anymore.





	Lamniformes

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [ursa minor](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9375368) by [sphesphe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sphesphe/pseuds/sphesphe). 



> Thank you @storiesinthedark for being my beta! 
> 
> If you are a person mentioned in this story, please move along. This is a piece of fiction, written and published purely for fun.
> 
> \- - 
> 
> This story takes place during the season 2015 - 2016, back when Donskoi still was a rookie. I don't follow the Sharks religiously, so please forgive any possible mistakes. I tried to do as much research as I could.  
> I don't have too much information on how sharks (the animals) live or behave, so for any biologists out there: I'm sorry.  
> The name of the fic, Lamniformes, comes from the order of sharks that includes, among others, the great white. The name itself is a combination of Greek and Latin, the meaning being something along the lines of "to have the form of a fish of prey."

“..have a little swim before heading home, feel free to join.”

Joonas blinked slowly as his ears picked up on Burns’ words and willed away the post-skate tiredness. A little swim? Where? He knew their arena was called ‘The Tank’ but there weren’t any pools around. At least not ones he was made aware of.

A couple of other guys hummed in response to their defenseman’s words before focusing back on changing or packing. _So, they d_ _on’t find this weird_ , Joonas thought. He frowned. There had to be a pool, then. Why hadn’t they told him? Not that he was particularly fond of swimming, but being left out stung. Then again, it wasn’t like he expected anyone to mention anything to him. He was a newcomer. A rookie. They’d tell him when he was deemed worthy, or something.

 

Joonas eyed the room. For now Burnzie’s words hadn’t made too much of an impact. No one was going after him. And no one turned to tell him, “ _oh by the way, there’s a pool in here. Feel free to use it whenever you like.”_

Maybe they didn’t remember he was there. Sure, he’d made an impression on the management during the training camp, enough to secure him a spot on the roster since the beginning of the season. He’d also scored on his first game – on _their_ first game. But, maybe this was only a big deal to him.

Joonas sighed and decided to follow Burns away from the locker room. It couldn’t hurt to check out the supposed pool, right? Besides, this was his home as well, whether he was considered socially a part of the group or not. Other guys probably knew every nook and cranny there was to know.

He’d be damned if he was going to let them shut him out like this.

 

The door the young forward had seen Burns use was the first sign there was something odd going on. It was plastered with distinct warning labels that told everyone to keep out or risk electric shock. Joonas didn’t let them bother him for too long. If their defenseman had gone there, it had to be safe. Either that or he’d have to pull out a corpse. He shuddered at the thought as he opened the door.

There was no electric wiring in sight. Actually, there was nothing but a dark tunnel, a dim sliver of light coming from behind a corner in the back. He turned to look back at the dressing room one last time before going into the tunnel, closing the door behind him. _This_ _is_ _getting interesting_ , he mused, pressing his fingertips gently against the wall as he went on. He turned left to face...

a room?

 

Joonas felt his jaw drop. It wasn’t just a room – in front of him there was a small area with comfortable looking seats and some benches (one of which had a pile of clothes on it), and beyond that there was a space that seemed more like a dark-floored natural cave.

He took a hesitant step forward and realized immediately that what he’d thought was the floor was actually water. And this wasn’t chlorinated water but real, honest-to-god salt water. Growing up in a town next to the sea, he knew this smell.

It was all so absurd. Joonas shook his head and walked next to the edge of the pool. He noticed that it was deep and dark, and filled with little rocky caverns and boulders. Like an ocean. But this couldn’t be connected to an ocean, could it?

And besides that, where the hell was Burns?

 

The water shifted slightly, and the young man turned his attention back to the depths.

“Burnzie?”

His voice echoed in the room for a while. But there was no answer.

“Burns? Seriously, man. Are you here?”

A dark flash caught his eye and Joonas leaned towards the edge of the water.

There was a shark.

In the pool.

In the same pool Burns probably was. Or had been.

“ _Vittu... Ei saatanan helvetti!_ Burns!”

 

A low chuckle behind him startled Joonas. He turned and nearly fell in the water.

“Don’t worry, he’s fine,” Jones smiled. His expression was almost gentle.

“Don’t worry? _”_ Joonas repeated, not even ashamed of how high-pitched his voice was. “ _Don’_ _t_ _worry_?! Burnzie’s clothes are there and he’s probably in the pool and there’s a _fucking shark_ -”

“You called him, eh? And he answered.”

The goaltender’s words didn’t make any sense.

“I... What..”

 

Jonesy took a deep breath and motioned Joonas to sit down next to him.

“I’m not good at this,” he started as the younger man had hesitantly settled. “It’s usually Pav or Jumbo’s job to talk to the new guys, but they both had to leave early, so you’re stuck with me. Just give me a sec, will you?”

Joonas forced himself to nod. If Jonesy wasn’t panicking over this...

“The thing is, weird stuff happens in here. ‘Here’ as in the NHL as a whole. No one really knows how or why, but maybe that’s not too important. The important part is to learn to go with the flow, I guess. To not stress over it.

“The most noticeable thing that happens is with the teams and the... associations with them, if you will. You know, we’re Sharks. This is The Tank. And that...” The goalie motioned vaguely towards the dark water. “Well, that’s a shark tank. Meant for us.”

 

Joonas was sure his skepticism was written on his face with neon letters, given that Jonesy laughed softly and shook his head.

“I know, right? Be glad your first team was the Sharks and not the Oilers or the Jets or something as ridiculous. Or the Kings, like mine was. Let’s not even go there... Anyway. I guess it’s all because of how people view us and how they believe in us. How they love us and want us to win. All that... I don’t know, mental energy? It sort of seeps into this building. I guess you could call it magic, if you want to. I don’t personally believe magic exists. This however does, so...”

“You’re rambling,” Joonas said. It was all that he could come up with.

 

Jonesy gave him an apologetic look.

“Am I? Sorry. Well, the point is... because of something – no one really knows what – there’s strange stuff going on. And because of that we can will ourselves to shape-shift.”

Joonas blinked. Twice.

“So,” The goalie grinned. “Wanna give it a go?”

“You’re telling me we can shape-shift.”

“Yes.”

“We’re sharks.”

“We’re sharks.”

“Are you shitting me? Is this some kind of rookie thing?”

“It’s not. Come on, take off your clothes and I’ll show you.”

 

It was all so much, Joonas thought. He massaged his temples. Magic. Sharks. Shape-shifting. _Undressing?!_ This couldn’t be true. It had to be a prank. Had to be. Burns was clearly hiding somewhere. The shark he’d seen wasn’t real. Jones did have the best poker face ever.

They were all in on it, he realized then. No one had told him anything because there was nothing to tell. It was all just a huge elaborate prank.

He felt a strange buzz inside his skull, like an incoming headache.

“You can feel it too, eh?” The goaltender’s words snapped him back to reality. He was still wary, though. Anyone could see he was about to get migraine.

“Feel what?”

“Like there’s something else in your brain. Something that wants out.”

The feeling intensified. Joonas felt dizzy.

“Hey.” Jones grabbed his shoulder gently, but firmly. “You can trust me. You know you can.”

Joonas felt a pair of strong arms pull him to his feet.

“Let’s go. Take those off so they won’t get wet. Or ripped apart. Whichever comes first.”

Joonas took a couple deep breaths. To the hell with it, if whatever Jonesy was planning would rid him of the buzzing in his head, it was going to be worth a try.

 

He took off his clothes and followed the other man back towards the pool, barely noticing Jones had removed his clothing as well. Jones lowered himself into the water, and after a moment of hesitation Joonas followed suit. It was warmer than he’d expected.

The buzz was almost deafening.

“Give in to it,” He read from Jonesy’s lips, unable to hear the words. That was the last bit of advice he got before the man took a deep exhale and dove towards the dark depth.

Joonas closed his eyes. Give in to it? How? It was driving him crazy! There was nothing but the warm water around him and the constant buzzing against his skull. He felt like he couldn’t even breathe anymore.

 

Something nudged his ankle gently underwater, and it was at that point he thought of diving. He tried to take a deep breath, but it hurt. It hurt so much, burned his neck like… Like he shouldn’t be breathing air but water. Joonas opened his eyes but the world looked funny, it didn’t make any sense to him. He stretched his arms, but they weren’t arms anymore. He kicked his legs but they were fused into a tail He bolted into the deep water.

It took him a couple heartbeats to figure out he should try breathing, and to his eternal amazement it felt great. Effortless. Almost easier than as a human. He swam forward in awe, taking a moment to learn to use and appreciate his new form.

He loved it.

 

The buzz inside his head had subsided, and now he could actually hear. The constant hum of the water around him was comforting. It reminded him of something he couldn’t quite name. A small current caught his attention – he had heard it before he felt it. Something moved near him. Something big.

Talking about feeling stuff, he thought as his mind finally caught up with his new senses. _Wow!_ A whole new way of feeling things. There was still the normal sort of touch, the sense of warmth and pressure and movement. But something else had joined it, like a small pulsating sensation.

 _D_ _o_ _n’t sharks sense stuff with electricity or something?_ He thought as he finally saw what he’d sensed. Another shark. It moved cautiously past him, circled around, and passed him a little closer. It evaluated him. Tried to decide if he was a threat.

Joonas turned to meet it. He grazed his snout carefully against the side of the bigger shark, feeling the microscopically spiky skin, the shifting of the muscles, the pulse.

_Burnzie. Friend._

 

Recognition hit him like a live wire and left him so dazed he barely noticed the shark bumping gently into him as it tried to recognize him, too.

This was crazy.

Burnzie seemed to relax after the contact, and they swam alongside each other for a while. Until Joonas heard another shift in the water. Another shark. Maybe Jonesy? He took a small spurt forward towards the source of the sound. This shark wasn’t quite as big as Burns, nor as cautious. It bumped into Joonas more eagerly as well.

_Jonesy. Friend.  
_

Suddenly there was a lot more happening. More sounds. More shifting water. Way more sharks. After the initial shock Joonas relaxed. He didn’t need to be afraid. This was his team. These were his friends.

 

Joonas sprinted off with newfound joy and enthusiasm. He heard a couple of them following along. Probably Carpy and Hertl. Definitely Hertl, he thought as he felt a mischievous bump against his dorsal. He swerved to bump him right back. It wasn’t too easy to start a play fight as a four-meter long fish with 700 kilograms of pure muscle, however, so they left it at that and kept on swimming. Joonas enjoyed exploring the underwater cave system, mapping it in his mind so being there would become familiar. The tunnels weren’t too long or small, which was good. There was no fear of getting lost or stuck.

 

He soon found himself back in an open water. Carpy torpedoed past him, dove a little deeper before rocketing towards the surface. He watched in awe how his teammate swiveled himself out of the water just to crash back with a tremendous splash.

That looked fun.

He wanted to try it, too.

Joonas swam closer to the bottom of the pool, noticing now that it was actually covered with sand, like a natural ocean. Little sand clouds still hovered in the water from where Carpy’s tail had pummeled through the floor. Some of it trickled through his gills as he breathed.

He turned toward the surface, the room’s lights sparkling through the water. Almost grinning, he picked up as much speed as he could before breaking the surface.

 

Cold hit him all over. It felt like he had been stabbed a million times. The surface was closing in on him. And then he could breathe again, water soothing his skin and eyes. The shock of both cold and slamming against the water left him dazed for a moment, yet it was the best feeling ever.

 _Adrenaline rush_ , his mind offered. The thought was absurd. Sharks were thrill junkies. It was almost… human-like, familiar.

Joonas felt Dilly brush gently past him, poking him as if to make sure he was alright. Which, after all that, was just stupid. Of course he was alright. He was better than ever! So, he poked right back and sped away, happy to see that Dilly understood the invite. Joonas wasn’t sure if sharks played tag, but these Sharks sure did, as more of them noticed the younger guys chasing each other and joined the game.

 

After some time Joonas started to feel exhausted. That was expected – he didn’t know how long they had been there but it felt like hours at this point. Tag had been fun, although he had been it more than anyone else. It didn’t matter, though. He was still new to all of this. He’d get better. Faster and more agile.

Burnzie brushed against him, and poked his side almost gently. He followed the older man to the side of the pool. As he neared the surface, the lights dancing and sparkling on the surface caught his eyes, and made his mind wander.

His fins were gone and so was his tail. Joonas took a deep inhale as he broke the surface and the air didn’t burn. Burns helped him to his feet and held his arm as his knees almost gave out, muscles limp.

“Gravity is a bitch, eh,” The defenseman chuckled. “Come on, you need to sit down and have some water.”

 

Joonas let Burnzie assist him to a comfortable looking armchair next to where he’d left his clothes before. He nearly fell on the cushions when he started to feel a slight burn in his muscles. A good kind of burn, though, the same kind he got after a proper training session.

“Drink it all,” The defenseman advised as he offered Joonas a big bottle of water. “Not too quickly, though. You’ll get the hiccups.”

Joonas gave the man a thankful smile before opening the bottle and taking a swig.

Jones sat down on an armchair next to him not long after and gave him a smirk.

“So. What do you think?” The goaltender asked. “Pretty sick, eh?”

“ _Eh_ ,” Wingels mimicked as he walked past them. “ _Pretty sick, eh. Sharks being sharks, almost ironic, eh._ ”

“Shut up,” Jonesy laughed and threw his bottle cap at the forward.

Joonas let them bicker while he tried to come up with a comprehensive answer.

“That was awesome,” he admitted, when Jones and Wingels finally stopped. What else could he say? Experiencing the world a whole other way like that was, like Jonesy said, “ _pretty sick_.”

 

The goalie looked proud of himself.

“I told you could trust me. Oh, and Burnzie? Stop scaring our rookies. Poor guy nearly had a heart attack because of you.”

“Did he? Sorry, dude.” The bearded defenseman tried to conjure up an apologetic smile, but the mischievous twinkle in his eyes revealed the truth. Jones rolled his eyes at him.

“You’re a pest.”

“Am not!”

“Are too.”

“D2.”

 

Joonas grinned and continued sipping his water as he listened to another fit of mockery, which consisted mostly of the two Canadians’ half-assed insults and Burns’ occasional Chewbacca imitations. It was all so... normal. Like they hadn’t swum in a huge saltwater pool just moments before. Like there was nothing different and earth-shaking going on.

 _And maybe there wasn’t_ , He thought. Jones had mentioned this was quite common in the NHL, and the veterans seemed to be so used to it they nearly forgot the rookies didn’t know a thing. It was second nature to them.

“Besides, Donny knows now,” Burns’ words pulled Joonas momentarily back to the present. “So no harm done. He’s one of us. About time he knew, anyway.”

 

The man’s words brought a smile on his lips. _One of us_ , huh? It sounded almost like the guys wanted him to be there. Like he belonged.

Joonas closed his eyes. He could see himself in teal for the rest of his career, alongside these weird, funny, crazy guys. He could live with that.

And the whole shark thing? It was a whole other world underwater, with a different sort of hierarchy, different set of rules and behavior, and wildly different senses.

Yeah, he could live with that, too.

 

A gentle tap on his leg brought Joonas back. He opened his eyes to meet Jones’ smile.

“Everything alright?”

Joonas nodded, wondering if he should tell the goalie about his revelation... about the feeling of belonging. Then, he looked at the man again and knew he didn’t have to.

“Welcome to the family.” Jones nodded. “Sorry it took this long.”

“It’s ok.” And it was, Joonas thought. “I’m here now.”


End file.
